Savage and Sharples ink new deals

Editor

Gloucester have announced that two of the club's key English talents in Tom Savage and Charlie Sharples have agreed new long-term contracts to extend their stays at Kingsholm.

Both players have played all their club rugby at Gloucester and are fixtures in the first team squad, both making more than 30 competitive starts last season.

26-year-old Savage has been one of the real success stories at Kingsholm in recent seasons. He skippered Hartpury RFC to the National Three South West title in 2010-11, before earning an opportunity to prove himself in the Cherry and White.

He took the chance with both hands, and is now closing in on 100 competitive appearances since his debut in 2011-12 and had the honour of captaining the side in the 2013-14 season.

Meanwhile, Sharples has been a fixture in the first team squad since making his debut in the 2007-8 season.
He has gone on to make 173 competitive appearances and boasts an impressive try scoring strike rate, having crossed for 64 tries in those games.

One of Gloucester's most potent attacking weapons, and now also one of the club's most experienced players, one highlight last season saw him score a hat-trick of tries against Brive on his 150th competitive appearance.

Both players are understandably delighted to have completed contract negotiations so early.

"To have everything agreed so early is massive for me," said Savage. 

"I've loved every minute of my time at Gloucester, to have my future sorted so early is great and I'm grateful to the club for making this happen.

"I think this squad has so much potential. We showed glimpses of it last season, especially in Europe when we won the Challenge Cup, but we all recognise that we need to be more consistent.

"We're a settled group coming into this season, and we've so much talent in the squad. It's an exciting time and I'm really fired up about playing my part this season and seeing what we can achieve in the future."

And Sharples has similar sentiments:

"I'm incredibly happy to have signed a new contract. I've been with Gloucester my whole career and didn't have any intention of looking elsewhere," said Sharples.

"Players often say that it's a relief to get things sorted early when it's a contract year, and that's absolutely true. It's a real boost to know that the club wanted to get it all done and dusted, and I can focus 100% on the rugby now without worrying about anything else.

"Gloucester is a good place to be at the moment. It's a settled group, players and coaches alike, and we're really looking forward to building on the foundations we put in place last season."

And David Humphreys is happy to get the first bits of business done even before the season kicks off:

"We've had a really good start to pre season and securing the long term future of Charlie and Tom is a huge boost to our goal of building a talented and competitive squad to challenge in both the Aviva Premiership and Europe," said Humphreys.

"To achieve this we will need to continue to recruit and add players to the squad but more importantly, we want to retain those players who have delivered for Gloucester over the past few seasons.

"Charlie and Tom play key roles, both on and off the pitch, and I'm delighted they have committed to Gloucester as we prepare for the start of an important season."